Richard of the Sickle
Richard of the Sickle is an ancient folkloric hero within The Elder Religion. He was born in Madicord and lived during the Darkness Era, and was an Ancient Dwarf. Early Life The only things that can be gathered of Richard of the Sickle's life is from songs passed down through the generations. From what was collected by Erwan of Spearhead and collated in his book ''Life of Richard of the Sickle'', ''Richard was a below average Ancient Dwarf who lived through five of the thirty Pacification Wars. As a result of being considered below average, and being born within a Human settlement, Richard was ostracized and excluded from becoming a warrior. Richard trained to become a locksmith because of this, and plied his trade throughout many of the constantly-pillaged villages within The Fertile Flows region. In Dameon Sythrowe's work, ''The Sharpened Sickle, ''Richard grew up in a similar way, though he was a Dwarven prince, and ran away because of the stringent demands placed upon him by his father. Conversion Richard was said to have been converted by The Mirror Man, in the song ''The Mirror Man and the Sickle, ''this song is the only occasion when his converter is actually mentioned. Richard's conversion is generally accepted to have just happened in other works, and some like ''The Locksmith assert that he was always a follower of The Elder Religion. Later Life and Death Richard is said to have lived as a hermetic farmer for the last years of his life, eventually dying in his 400s. Notable Events * The event that made him famous is "The Telouvre Event", when he strode through the ancient Human town of Telouvre with two stallions. There, he shouted of the coming invasion of Dwarves and offered the stallions to the two surviving sons of the dead Lord Telouvre, allowing them to make their escape. * During a festival footrace in Madicord, Richard of the Sickle challenged the fastest man there and subsequently lost. The man he challenged made him do the locks on his gigantic mansion. Richard finished the locks in one night, and accepted no payment when the man offered it for a job well done, stating. "This is the only time I'll do your locks, so they had best not break." * When Richard was old, he settled down and acquired a small plot of land to farm. While he was farming with a simple sickle, he was approached by a heavily-armored knight wielding a great sword and blowing a gigantic horn lined with gold. The knight challenged him and he had nothing to protect himself with outside of his sickle. They both bet their livelihoods on this bout, and Richard won. Richard then went on to take his great sword, enameled armor, and horn, using the various pieces as household items. This is the story that gave him the name Richard of the Sickle. Controversy Many inflammatory works have been written of the character, most notably, ''The Sharpened Sickle ''by Dameon Sythrowe. This story depicts him as nothing more than an insane locksmith who believes that The Elder is speaking to him directly. This voice then sends him on quests to kill those he deems "unworthy of the grace of the gods." OOC NOTES -The character was first created by Damian Swilling and Timothy Silvers for a one-shot roleplay that lasted one night. - This was also Damian Swilling's first ever D&D character. Created in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition. -Dameon Synthrowe's ''The Sharpened Sickle ''depicts that grisly, one-shot D&D session. -This page was created by Timothy Silvers on August 18th, 2018.